


Breaking and entering

by Elisexyz



Series: Closer at heart [5]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Baelfire | Neal Cassidy Lives, F/M, Fix-It, Fluff, Post-Episode: s03e15 Quiet Minds
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-07
Updated: 2019-07-07
Packaged: 2020-06-24 01:04:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19713169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elisexyz/pseuds/Elisexyz
Summary: “Seriously? Did youseriouslybreak into my car?”





	Breaking and entering

**Author's Note:**

> Here's a "Swanfire being pointlessly cute" fic. I mean, they weren't very present in the latest one-shot of this series, so. ~~And I'm procrastinating the "Let's defeat Zelena" fic, ngl.~~ Enjoy!

“Seriously?” Emma snorts, opening the door to the driver seat and leaning in. “Did you _seriously_ break into my car?”

Neal smiles innocently at her, holed up in the backseat and holding up a paper bag. “Yup. I’ve got fast food though,” he declares, shaking the bag for emphasis and inviting her to join him with a gesture.

( _He_ is inviting _her_ to get into _her_ car. Unbelievable.)

Emma has had a long day, every bone in her body hurts, she has a nervous headache building up and absolutely no will to pretend like this isn’t amusing, so she just shakes her head, a grin bubbling at her lips, and she orders: “Move over.”

He’s quick to obey, clearly happy with her cooperation, and she has soon climbed on the backseat, pushing the driver’s seat forward to make more room.

Regina had offered to let her have dinner with her and Henry, and Emma isn’t really sorry that she declined: it was mostly with the intention of grabbing a crappy sandwich and going straight to sleep, but the taste of hamburger and fries actually makes her feel a little less destroyed inside.

Who says that fast food kills you, uh?

“So,” Neal catches her attention, sounding overly casual. “How did your lesson go?”

She snorts. “Good. Regina threw me off a cliff.”

He raises his eyebrows, rightfully confused as he gives her a onceover and verifies that she’s still in one piece. “Okay,” he says, slowly, clearly waiting for a better explanation.

“ _Apparently_ —” She grabs a fry from his half, because it’s not _really_ half, he clearly has more. “—that is a sure-fire way to get my powers to come out. So as long as Zelena starts throwing me off cliffs, we should be good.”

“Oh, well, _that’s_ reassuring,” he snorts. It sounds natural enough that if she were just a _little_ more tired, or if she didn’t have such a sharp Neal-bullshit detector, she might have missed the way he stiffed and his full attention went to his hamburger.

She isn’t sure if she should press though, because she has no idea how much good could come out of having this conversation, so she’s practically done with her hamburger when she finally decides to broach the subject.

“So— on a scale of one to ten, how much do you hate this?” she gets out, all at once.

Neal turns towards her, frowning. “How much do I hate what?”

She’s fairly sure that he knows what he’s talking about, but she merely rolls her eyes. “This situation. Me doing magic,” she clarifies, to which he shifts uncomfortably on his seat.

“Oh, that,” he mutters, and she’s pretty sure that if the backseat had a door he’d be very tempted to flee right now.

It’s kinda nice, in a very selfish and probably a little shitty way, not being the one who doesn’t want to talk, for a change.

“I don’t know,” he finally shrugs. He attempts a joking smile. “A good seven?”

“Neal,” she reprimands, mildly, because she kinda wants a straight answer. She doesn’t want him up all night obsessing over her magic training or something.

She doesn’t want him to think that this is something that it _isn’t_ , to worry over it so much that he’ll eventually decide that she isn’t worth the trouble, that if he wants to get away from all the magic crap he’d better get the hell away from her too.

“Possibly an eight?” he amends, still jokingly.

She just stares, unamused, and he eventually caves.

“Okay, look,” he sighs, shaking his head. “I—I get it,” he assures, gesturing vaguely in her direction. “We need it, it’s for a good cause and everything, but still. No, I don’t like it, and yes, it worries me, I can’t help it.”

Alright, that’s better.

“Well, you don’t need to worry,” she assures, shrugging. “Because as soon as Zelena is out I’m _done_.”

“Right,” he mutters, but the look that he gives her is very dubious.

“I _mean_ it,” she insists, and she _does_. “I’m not really interested in this stuff, and training with Regina is a _menace_ , I can’t wait to be done.”

He snorts, and although she can tell that he’s not wholly convinced he looks a little more at ease. “Yeah, okay, that’s probably a good point,” he concedes, with a slight smile.

She does her best to return his smile as reassuringly as possible, and she takes some comfort into knowing that she’s telling the truth: this whole magic thing feels very foreign to her. It’s a good means to an end, one that she’s a little reluctant to use but that definitely helped them out when they needed to get Henry back in Neverland, it just so happens that she can’t go in blindly this time, so she needs to put a little more work into it.

It doesn’t mean that she’s going to become as fixated on it as Gold and Regina seem to be. It’s just a means to an end. It will be over before they know it, it isn’t going to ruin everything.

“Henry is starting to get restless, locked up at Regina’s all the time,” she comments, mostly to break the silence, while glancing at the mansion in the distance. She can explain away his borderline imprisonment, but she isn’t sure how long her son is going to stand for it.

“Yeah, I noticed,” Neal immediately gets on board with the change of subject. “Hopefully it will be over soon.”

Yeah, hopefully.

“And then maybe we could have dinner somewhere with chairs?” she jokes, gesturing at the bag of fast food and raising her eyebrows. “Eating junk in the back of the car was cute when we were teenagers, you know.”

“I didn’t hear you complaining,” he retorts, faking a good dose of outrage. “My thieving talents are wasted on you.”

She blinks at him. “You _stole_ this?”

He shrugs. “For the sake of the trip down memory lane.”

“I—” she falters. “Neal!” she finally protests. “I could have you arrested, you know?” Which would be _rich_ , considering everything, but _still_. He didn’t have to _tell_ her.

He lasts another couple of seconds before cracking up. “Calm down, I’ve got the receipt,” he grins, to which she draws a sigh that comes out sounding a lot like a snort. Asshole. “I’m an honest man now, you know?”

She scoffs. “You _literally_ just broke into my car,” she argues, gesturing vaguely around them.

“Does it count as breaking in if I was waiting on you and I knew you wouldn’t mind?”

“ _Yes_. It _does_.”

She shakes her head, trying not to be too obvious about the giant grin spreading on her face as she relaxes against the seat.

Neal keeps staring at her for a few moments, a small smile tugging at his lips.

“Uh, yes, anyway,” he says, a little hesitantly. “Maybe we _could_ go somewhere with chairs, like a, uh, real date— after all this is over with.”

When he explicitly calls out her off-handed proposal for what it was, her stomach flips over and she can’t quite ignore the familiar bite of fear, but she nods, her grin turning into a more genuine smile. It’s a nice prospective, in spite of everything.

**Author's Note:**

> This story is part of the [LLF Comment Project](https://longlivefeedback.tumblr.com/llfcommentproject), which was created to improve communication between readers and authors. This author invites and appreciates feedback, including: 
> 
>   * Short comments
>   * Long comments
>   * Questions
>   * “<3” as extra kudos
>   * Reader-reader interaction
> 

> 
> If you don’t want a reply, for any reason, feel free to sign your comment with “whisper” and I will appreciate it but not respond!


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